1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitor control system for performing a monitor control on a plant, and particularly to a user interface function thereof.
2. Description of the Background Art
In many large-scale plants, a monitor control method is adopted in which information of sensors that are installed in respective instruments of the plant is collectively monitored by a central monitor control panel.
In recent years, software implementation of the central monitor control panel is advancing. In the software implementation of the central monitor control panel, a display of a plant measured value and a control of instruments are implemented by a graphical user interface, instead of a hardware indicator and a hardware switch that have been conventionally used. This exerts an effect that a monitor control system is downsized and an operation load imposed on an operator can be reduced.
Normally, a plant monitor control operation team is made up of one or more operators and one or more operation supervisors. For each of the operators and the operation supervisors, a special plant monitor control input/output device is prepared, and each of the operators and the operation supervisors uses a monitor control panel assigned thereto to monitor and control the plant.
In a plant monitor control operation in which a complicated control is performed, such as in a case of a large-scale plant, there are often a plurality of operators arranged to share the operation. The operation supervisor determines which part of the operation is to be assigned to each operator based on a current plant state, and gives an instruction about an operation content to each operator. Each operator performs the operation while following the instruction that is orally given from the supervisor.
In some kind of the operation content, the operators may cooperate with each other to perform the operation. At this time, while the operation is being performed, communication is made not only between the supervisor and the operator but also between the operators.
In a monitor control system of a large-scale plant, there is a large number of items to be monitored and controlled, such as measurement points in the plant and control instruments. Thus, there is a tendency that the number of pages of a monitor control screen and the amount of information per page are increased. Workers (the operators and the operation supervisors) have to find and monitor necessary information from a large number of display items in accordance with a plant situation, an operation content, and the like, at that time. However, if desired information is distributed among a plurality of screens, it is necessary to perform the monitor operation while switching the screens. This increases cognitive load on the operator, and additionally may cause the operator to fail to recognize signs of changes in the monitor items that are not displayed.
To solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-108444 proposes a method in which rules for notifying a guidance by a user are customized. In the method proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-108444, the user registers notification determination conditions and contents of a notification, and thereby a system ca report a sign of a change prior to generation of an alert.
However, in the system (apparatus) disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-108444, the following problems still remain.
Regarding, among display items on a monitor control screen, display items for which the notification rules are not registered in the system, no notification is made even though values of the display items change.
Additionally, in a case where a plurality of operators share an operation, the operators generally look at different items among the display items on the monitor control screen. However, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-108444, the notification rules are common to all the operators.
Thus, if the notification is performed in accordance with the notification rules registered in the system, each operator has to make a choice about each of notifications. In a case where the system frequently gives notifications, a load of selecting information increases, which may hinder the monitor control operation that is an originally intended purpose.
Moreover, the communication among the workers involves the following problem. In a large-scale plant, a plurality of operators share an operation to perform the monitor control operation. Because of a layout of a control panel, the operators are generally located spaced apart from one another, and cannot visually check the other operator's operations. Therefore, the operators orally communicate with one another, which however makes it difficult for the operator to accurately comprehends the other operator's operation contents because of miscommunication, absorption in the operations, and the like.
Facilities of the plant operate in cooperation with one another, and one operation may influence various locations in the plant. An operation performed by one operator may influence a monitor item of another operator. Thus, in a case where the operators cannot accurately comprehend each other's operation contents, they may fail to recognize a sign of a change of the monitor item resulting from each other's operation.